Juliet Mills - Career

Career

As a baby and small child she had appeared as an extra in various films, such as Freda's 11-week-old baby, in the 1942 film In Which We Serve where her father was starring.

However, when her younger sister Hayley found success as a Disney actress in films such as Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, Mills decided to try her hand at the family business of acting. Her first major role was at the age of 16, in a play called Five Finger Exercise, as "Pamela Harrington". The show, written by famous playwright Peter Shaffer, played one year in London, and then moved to the Music Box Theatre on Broadway.

Mills was nominated for a Tony Award in 1960 as "Best Featured Actress". She acted in films, such as The Rare Breed with James Stewart. She has stated that the highlight of her film career was the 1972 film Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, in which she starred with Jack Lemmon. She was nominated in 1973 for a Golden Globe Award for the role.

Her best known role began in 1970, when she starred in the American television series Nanny and the Professor. She played a friendly character, Phoebe Figalilly, who had magical powers, in a series that was called an American variation of Mary Poppins. Mills has stated that she herself believes in magic, and witches and fairies. "There's a lot more, you know, in the aether and around us ... We have guides, and we have angels taking care of us ... I believe in metaphysics, in a big way." She was nominated for another Golden Globe Award in 1971 for the role. The series had strong ratings but ran only briefly from 1970 to 1971. The show also suffered after it was moved from its timeslot near the strong combination of The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch to a different night of the week, which impacted ratings and eventually led to its cancellation.

In 1974, she won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special" for the miniseries adaptation of QB VII.

In 1980, she returned to the stage, starring in The Elephant Man, with Maxwell Caulfield. The two actors hit it off, and despite their 18-year age difference, the younger Caulfield asked Mills to marry him, and became her third husband. After marrying Caulfield, Mills quit acting for a time.

In 1999, she landed a role in the daytime drama Passions, where she originated and plays the character Tabitha Lenox, a witch who wishes harm on many people due to being burned at the stake in the 17th century. The character was officially declared a "good witch" in a June 2007 episode, shortly before the series ended in August 2008. Mills was nominated for her first Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Lead Actress" for the role.

In 2009, Mills joined the cast of series 4 of the ITV drama Wild at Heart, playing "Georgina", the sister of a character that was played in the previous series by her real life sister Hayley.